Ill Effects

Jada woke up Tuesday morning not looking good.  She was flushed, sweaty, and not her usual bouncy self.  She complained of having had an upset stomach all night.  For someone who delights in school, her insistence that she had to stay home had to be taken seriously.  So Amy and I scrambled to cancel meetings and move things around, and Amy stayed home while I headed out of the house, with the deal being that I would return later that morning and work from home so Amy could go into work.

Of course, Aaron watched this all unfold before his eyes and decided that his stomach hurt too.  It probably did, but from a self-inflicted desire to stay home.  Despite his flair for the dramatic, it wasn’t working on Amy and me.  I dragged him to school, dropped him off, and headed to my first meeting.

By the time I returned home less than two hours later, Jada was already looking and feeling a lot better.  Amy headed off to work, and I set up my home office and got productive.  By lunchtime, Jada’s appetite had returned, so I fed her lunch.  An hour later, with her spirits basically back to normal, I walked her to school and headed back into the office to complete the day.

I suspect that she got a twinge of whatever has laid out other kids.  She’s pretty hearty like that; what makes other boys and girls vomit and ache and reel just leaves her a little sweaty and not feeling quite right, and once she’s had a few extra hours to bum around and a little bit of medicine, she’s ready to get back to her usual school routine.

As for Aaron, once he got to school, he was fine.  He just saw an opportunity to turn on the water works, and once he saw that we weren’t buying it, he shut that down and went about his usual business too. 

Jada spent the rest of the week at pretty close to 100 percent; a little wobbly but not so bad that she couldn't go to school and do all of her usual things.  Aaron, as you can imagine, spent the rest of the week trying to convince Amy and me that he was ill; and, as you can imagine, it didn't work, and life went on for him as well.

I’m glad our kids are fairly robust, and that they’re pretty easy to read in terms of whether they’re really sick or not.   And I’m thankful Amy and I were able to negotiate this sudden change in plans.  I know that for most families, sicknesses become week-long affairs involving every single family member, some more than once.  And, of course, some families deal with chronic illnesses that are gut-wrenching and nerve-wracking. 

We're on Easy Street in comparison, so perhaps it is inappropriate for me to even complain and chronicle what ended up being a minor blip in the grand scheme of things.  But, given how busy our lives are, there was drama.  We emerge thankful that we have it relatively smooth, and admiring of those who have to slog through so much more so much more often.